WEST CHESTER — During a heated meeting Wednesday night, Borough Council postponed to a meeting next week a decision on whether to follow through with the first payment to purchase the Barclay Grounds.

The agenda for Wednesday’s meeting listed a resolution to be voted on that moved forward with the first $600,000 payment for the Barclay Grounds. Late last month, the first payment deadline was extended from June 30 to July 30.

Council President Jordan Norley said the resolution was postponed because during council’s executive session Wednesday it had received new offers and changes to the agreement between the borough and the Barclay Grounds Preservation Alliance.

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Norley said the item was being removed from the agenda and a special meeting would be held at 6:30 p.m. next Tuesday, July 22, at Borough Hall. He did not provide further information on the new offers from the alliance.

Tempers flared Wednesday when residents and council discussed a letter that Norley sent to the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources in regard to a grant the borough was applying for. In the letter Norley wrote, “with the hope that the Commonwealth will act favorable on our grant request, the Borough will contribute funds to the project should the original funding plan fail to meet its goal.”

A majority of Borough Council must approve any taxpayer money to be spent on the project. Council had previously said that it will not spend taxpayer money to purchase the grounds.

When residents asked council about the letter, Norley said the letter did not commit any borough funds for the project. He said that after it came to the borough’s attention that the state grant application needed a letter of support from the borough, after the county’s grant offer came in $375,000 less than the borough expected, Norley sent the letter to the state.

The borough solicitor agreed the letter did not commit taxpayer funds and said that the ordinance established last year to buy the property gave Norley the authority to send the letter in an effort to secure funding for the project.

Norley said that in “an abundance of caution” he sent the letter to four council members to view prior to sending it to the state.

Councilwoman Cassandra Jones said Wednesday that she had not seen the letter and felt “extremely dismayed” by it. Jones said that while Norley had sent the letter to four council members, she felt there was not a good reason that all of council wasn’t consulted first.

“It was only a matter of a keystroke to include everyone on the e-mail,” said Jones, adding later in the meeting, “I’m not sure why this particular project has caused so much hostility among us.”

She added that she felt it was important to stick by the “original intent” of council to not use borough funds for the project.

“I’m going to stay by my original approach and intent of council when we passed the ordinance that the borough is not to invest borough funding or taxpayer money in this issue,” Jones said, adding that she believed everyone on council, including herself, was in favor overall of saving the Barclay Grounds.

Norley said the letter was merely a way to strengthen the borough’s application for the state grant. When residents asked if Norley was intentionally misleading the state by saying “the borough will contribute funds to the project” in the letter, Norley declined to comment further. But the borough’s solicitor said it was known that “it was not Mr. Norley’s intent to mislead the Commonwealth.”

“We needed to get that letter to the state or $600,000 would have been gone,” Norley said. “And in no way, regardless of some of the opposition to the project, did that commit borough funds.”

Mayor Carolyn Comitta said she believed that it was important for council to be open about the process, but that the letter was sent because of time restrictions. She also noted that the solicitor confirmed that the council president, under the ordinance to purchase the Barclay Grounds, is able to “do any and all reasonable actions in support of receiving as much grant money as we possibly can.”

“I agree that transparency and process is very important and paramount. However, I also understand that the council president believed that time was of the essence and that the letter needed to be written,” Comitta said.

At the end of last month, borough officials announced that an arrangement had been worked out with StanAb, the developer that owns the property, to extend the deadline a month. Officials said the delay would help the borough work on grants for funding the purchase.

The delay came weeks after the county agreed to give the borough a grant of $125,000 for the purchase of the property, much less than the borough’s original request of $500,000. In agreeing to the lower amount, the County Commissioners cited their concerns the borough was not using any of its own taxpayer money to purchase the property as their reason for the lower amount.

The money for the first payment is to be borrowed from the borough’s capital operating reserve fund, with the anticipation that grant funding will reimburse the borough for the expense at a later date, borough officials said.

Early in 2013, the southern part of the property — located on Marshall Street at High Street — was subdivided and was slated to be sold as four lots for four luxury homes. Residents opposed the development, formed the Barclay Grounds Preservation Alliance, and council voted in December to purchase the property over the course of this year, using outside funding from grants and donations.

Under terms of that agreement, the borough was slated to purchase the first two High Street lots by the end of June for $600,000, and buy the remaining two lots by Dec. 30 for an additional $600,000.

The acquisition is dependent on the borough receiving enough in grants and public donations to cover the purchase price of $1.2 million for the 1.38-acre site. The borough received a grant from the county, and is seeking others from the state. The Barclay Grounds Preservation Alliance has been working to raise money for the purchase and has pledged to provide any gap in funding up to $200,000.

Follow Daily Local News staff writer Kendal Gapinski on Twitter at @KendalGapinski and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/KendalAGapinski.

About the Author

Kendal Gapinski is the Daily Local News reporter covering events in the Whiteland and Uwchlan areas. She is a 2013 graduate from American University. Reach the author at kgapinski@dailylocal.com
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